Bike Advocacy
The City wants you to Ride to Work!
Join the Cities celebration for Bike to Work Day. Coffee and Bagels will be present! The Mayor and other talking heads will… talk of course.
Get off your ass Miyagishima!
In oder to truly understand the concerns of your constituents, you need to spend time on a saddle.
Strict Liability
Something to push for here in the United States.
Need a street cleaned?
If you ride on skinny tires then you must appreciate street sweepers. Sure much of their work goes unappreciated when we cus them for rarely cleaning our favorite streets but now they are offering us a chance to give input.
Lets get our favorite streets cleaned!
Report Streets for Sweeping online by clicking here
And you can report potholes online or by phone too:
Join the Pothole Posse! click here or call 541-2595
Abq cyclists SEEN
With more than 200 cyclists riding together on Central and other major streets in Albuquerque Sunday, Albuquerque drivers are hopefully more aware that we need to be SEEN. BikeABQ’s Can You See Us NOW? ride was a major success and it received major media attention.
See Johnnys story on KOAT 7
http://www.koat.com/news/21022599/detail.html
You may never know…
Another fellow marauder, Gustavo Vega from Horizon City, east of El Paso, has been the latest victim of intoxicated manslaughter. Mr. Vega, 47, was riding East on North Loop’s designated shoulder when 25 year old Araceli Nava veered off the road striking him. Mr. Vega died that morning, laying in the sun next to his mangled bicycle, in a dried-out irrigation ditch.
Ms. Nava told the authorities that she was parting all night and that she last drank an alcoholic beverage at 6:00am, four hours prior to the incident.
I would hate to believe that the last emotion Mr. Vega had was the horror of the impending impact, but rather that of the liberating feeling a cyclist gets as one glides through the country side. This incident brings up the point that cyclist are completely susceptible motorist’s actions.
In an age of rampant hit-and-runs, Ms. Nava is commended for not only having stopped, but for alerting the authorities of the incident.
As fellow cyclists, you may be aware of our soft-bodied vulnerability contrasting with a world of steel and concrete. We may have helmets, lights and everything else, but we may never know when the poor judgment of others will cross our path.
As you ride along on your next excursion, just remember those who lost it all partaking in your passion… and stay alert, we have way more to loose!
Unsung Hero
We At Urban Aggression would like to congratulate Senior Las Cruces City Planner Mr. Andy Hume for receiving the Unsung Hero Community Champion Award. Molina Healthcare of New Mexico recently recognized his efforts in implementing the Safe Routes To School program, which provides better bicycle infrastructure and education for schools, providing children a safe & healthy alternative way to get to school.
Mr. Hume is a planner for the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and has been the crucial link between the community and the powers-to-be. He helps communicate ideas and concerns with city council as-well-as works to secure funds for future bicycle facilities. Mr. Hume has set a goal for the City of Las Cruces to become a recognized Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclist. A formidable task we know he can accomplish. We hope more of Andy’s hard work pays off in the near future. Bureaucracy and funding have proven formidable opponents to real on the ground improvements in facilities but we know with support from local cyclists, he can help this city get moving in a healthier direction.
Andy can also be found out-and-about at the various local events riding his bicycle. Congrats again and thanks for all your help!
We didn’t Start the Fire!
With the weather cooling down and NMSU back into full swing, unwelcomed confrontations between cyclists and motorists are sure to increase. Unfortunately, public sympathy is hardly on the side of the bicyclist. This is evident in the case of Anthony Lemieux, who was killed while riding on the correct side of a designated bicycle facility. The perpetrator, 23-year-old Stephanie Parra-Perez, was never investigated nor fined. No investigation into whether she was on the phone or texting at the time of the incident was ever conducted. In other words, she got away with murder.
In our auto-centric society, cyclists in general are view as second class citizens who are not entitled to utilizing the roads. A completely false sentiment that is deplorably shared by many in the law enforcement community, as I have witnessed. Sorry folks, all those expensive bicycles dangling on the back of squad cars (that tax payer money purchased) are hardly used… and it’s pathetic when they do! I have witnessed trained bicycling officers of the law riding on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road which is most dangerous, illegal, and sets a very bad example. If you ever see a Las Cruces city bicycling officer at night, note that they don’t use their legally required lights, another terrible example for them to set.
Since a very minute percentage of society ever ride their bikes past the end of the street, coupled with ideals mentioned above; bicycle-automobile collisions have become a very hot topic. On most occasions, fault is automatically attributed to the cyclists. Tragically, many will never be able to tell their side of the story, as in Mr. Lemieux’s case. Read the Las Cruces Sun News article of this incident for an excellent example of backwards finger pointing.
Now, a report published by the University of Toronto’s Dr. Chris Cavacuiti of the department of family and community medicine and staff physician at St. Michael’s Hospital states otherwise. His research suggested that 9 out of 10 collisions are cause by the driver.
The most common type of crash in this study involved a motorist entering an intersection and either failing to stop properly or proceeding before it was safe to do so. The second most common crash type involved a motorist overtaking unsafely. The third involved a motorist opening a door onto an oncoming cyclist. The study concluded that cyclists are the cause of less than 10 per cent of bike-car accidents in this study.
This study does coincide with my feelings about bicycle-auto collisions, as we are at a massive disadvantage going up against a two-ton hunk of steel. What does Dr. Cavacuiti recommend? Better trained enforcement and public education, similar to whats seen in many European countries. I would also like to see our local law enforcement receive extensive training on the matter and for the civic leaders to appreciated what better cycling infrastructure can do to our community.
Until then… keep your eyes peeled people!
Thanks to efforts from NMDOT, Las Cruces and El Paso, the pilot program for a bus commuter line between the two cities will begin August 31st. Another line will cover the 25 miles to White Sands Missle Range.
One-way tickets will be only $3 and pick up points include downtown Las Cruces, NMSU, Anthony and downtown El Paso. Even thought the program only runs durning the weekdays and within a three hour window during the morning and evening hours, it is a start. Hopefully the foundation for improving regional transit systems.
With this new connection, anyone can load their bike in downtown or NMSU and meet up with buddies anymore in EP!
enjoy my friends!
MORE INFO:
Hillclimb alleycat Sept 6
Sunday Sept 6th
8pm Black Rat Tattoo shop on Telshor
mark your calendars. more soon
Las Cruces Bicycle Facilities Map
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